"The more things change the more they stay the same". This is surely a quote you have heard many times in your life. When I first heard it, at around 12 years old it confused me, at first. I thought to myself 'how can things change and stay the same, isn't that a paradox (although I'm not sure I used that word at the time). I did figure out what it meant by experience, I guess. Per usual I'm going to start by talking about the past.
Our house was always changing. As the seasons came and went so did the designs that went with them. Halloween, Christmas, and spring brought about a new crop of colors to the house, and the fact that it was a large house (5000 sq ft) the decorations were pretty expansive. My mom saw the house as a canvas she had free reign on. I'm not sure how my dad felt, but he had to pay for it. Sometimes we would get a new couch or something larger and, for me, it was just another thing to get used to. In talking with my AS group while at college I found out that a couple kids hated it when their parents got new furniture, you could say the change terrified them. I guess its because the outside world is supposed to do all the changing, not the place they hold sacred; their house. From what I have gathered Aspy' care less open to change than other people. I used to have a quote (well I guess I still have it) about how I saw change. "The more things change, the more I stay the same". It's not anything special, but it does say a lot about who I am.
I tend to have a loose schedule about what I have planned for the next day. I don't have it set in stone and I am actually quite flexible. There is no danger of me freaking out because I'm about to miss Wapner. If something comes up, I adjust. Life isn't always that perfect harmonic symphony, where all the notes are in order and each consecutive part comes in at the right time. It's more of just a jam band session where the people playing know the notes, but they aren't as on point as they think. The one thing I have the most trouble with in terms of planning for and then getting interrupted is food. I hate it when I am sitting down to a meal and then am forced to do something else and only an emergency is understandable at this time. If I make up my mind to do something later in the week then I tend to go, not matter what. There is a college story about how my car broke down and I HAD to borrow someones so I could drive down to KFC. I know, that is very odd, but once I get a certain type of food on the brain something just takes over. Some of the OCD things I do can fall into this category, sort of.
I usually walk down the street avoid the lines in the sidewalk, preferring to stay in between them on the solid parts of the squares that make up the path. This seems typical of some people. If I can't avoid the line, then I'm fine. This is not typical, however, and I just move on. Even while playing baseball I did something like this but that is more of an ingrained and accepted thing to be superstitious. Each time out the mound I would leap over the line that separated the grass, the base path, to avoid the white line. This line I avoided at all costs during a game, but like I said it can be unavoidable during practice when we are doing sprints and you had to touch it. To this day I think I'm the only Colombian afraid of white line. That was an attempt at humor, by the way. The thing about me and OCD is that I never got to the point where it interfered with my daily life. I have never had to do something so long that I missed something else entirely. I can deal with the fact that its not perfect and move on. True, I do like the toilet paper to be cleanly cut to the next piece after I'm done with it, but that doesn't take too long. I'm lucky with that , I guess, but many people with severe OCD are not, and its sad. Going back to what I was saying about the seasons changing, there is one thing that does so with it. This is something I could care less about and is a waste of money in my mind, fashion.
Now women are all about fashion, I should know, having lived with two of them for a year during college. Heather had 23 pairs of just blue jeans, so many shoes it made me sick and sweaters, shirts, jackets and enough other things to make me wonder why. She had over $10,000 in there, by her own estimates, and that was only part of her wardrobe. I realize most women are like this, and I assume they realize they can't wear it all at once. As for me, I am not a person who is trendy when it comes to this department. I like my clothes to last a while, and the seasons don't matter. I wear pants 365 and I only put on shorts when I'm working out or going to the beach. There are reasons for this that I'm not going into now. As for the top half I tend to wear shirts that are all one color or limited colors, nothing that can be described as 'busy' in terms of design. I wear a lot of black, just not enough where you would think I'm Amish. I don't like to stand out like a peacock. I prefer to stay low on peoples radar. In public I can be very elusive, getting in and out of an area and on with things. The only kinds of shopping I like are food and jewelry, although I am making more of the latter myself. The jewelry shopping is strictly for resell, as I now have a rule that I can't wear anything I don't make myself. I never pay retail and do a lot of browsing on eBay, clothes included. I don't buy jeans on eBay, just shirts and shoes many used or just slightly. Yard sales and thrift shops are a common place to see me, albeit for too long. I have shirts that I have had for two years. I'm not at the point where anything has holes in it but I use items until they are worn out and this goes for almost everything I own. I buy things that last and don't mind paying more for quality. And if you can get quality for a bargain then all the better.
I don't really no where to go with the rest of this post and I may have to add more, so let me sum up: Change is going to happen whether you are prepared for it or not, so be flexible and understand this important fact. It's funny but I think my increased flexibility has come in part from Bikram Yoga, but that could only be a biased opinion. My next post sort of has to do with change again, but this time its more about letting go (in all its different forms) and the troubles people have with that. It is aptly titled "How to get over things" and the contents may surprise you.
Questions or Comments? Let me know.
Our house was always changing. As the seasons came and went so did the designs that went with them. Halloween, Christmas, and spring brought about a new crop of colors to the house, and the fact that it was a large house (5000 sq ft) the decorations were pretty expansive. My mom saw the house as a canvas she had free reign on. I'm not sure how my dad felt, but he had to pay for it. Sometimes we would get a new couch or something larger and, for me, it was just another thing to get used to. In talking with my AS group while at college I found out that a couple kids hated it when their parents got new furniture, you could say the change terrified them. I guess its because the outside world is supposed to do all the changing, not the place they hold sacred; their house. From what I have gathered Aspy' care less open to change than other people. I used to have a quote (well I guess I still have it) about how I saw change. "The more things change, the more I stay the same". It's not anything special, but it does say a lot about who I am.
I tend to have a loose schedule about what I have planned for the next day. I don't have it set in stone and I am actually quite flexible. There is no danger of me freaking out because I'm about to miss Wapner. If something comes up, I adjust. Life isn't always that perfect harmonic symphony, where all the notes are in order and each consecutive part comes in at the right time. It's more of just a jam band session where the people playing know the notes, but they aren't as on point as they think. The one thing I have the most trouble with in terms of planning for and then getting interrupted is food. I hate it when I am sitting down to a meal and then am forced to do something else and only an emergency is understandable at this time. If I make up my mind to do something later in the week then I tend to go, not matter what. There is a college story about how my car broke down and I HAD to borrow someones so I could drive down to KFC. I know, that is very odd, but once I get a certain type of food on the brain something just takes over. Some of the OCD things I do can fall into this category, sort of.
I usually walk down the street avoid the lines in the sidewalk, preferring to stay in between them on the solid parts of the squares that make up the path. This seems typical of some people. If I can't avoid the line, then I'm fine. This is not typical, however, and I just move on. Even while playing baseball I did something like this but that is more of an ingrained and accepted thing to be superstitious. Each time out the mound I would leap over the line that separated the grass, the base path, to avoid the white line. This line I avoided at all costs during a game, but like I said it can be unavoidable during practice when we are doing sprints and you had to touch it. To this day I think I'm the only Colombian afraid of white line. That was an attempt at humor, by the way. The thing about me and OCD is that I never got to the point where it interfered with my daily life. I have never had to do something so long that I missed something else entirely. I can deal with the fact that its not perfect and move on. True, I do like the toilet paper to be cleanly cut to the next piece after I'm done with it, but that doesn't take too long. I'm lucky with that , I guess, but many people with severe OCD are not, and its sad. Going back to what I was saying about the seasons changing, there is one thing that does so with it. This is something I could care less about and is a waste of money in my mind, fashion.
Now women are all about fashion, I should know, having lived with two of them for a year during college. Heather had 23 pairs of just blue jeans, so many shoes it made me sick and sweaters, shirts, jackets and enough other things to make me wonder why. She had over $10,000 in there, by her own estimates, and that was only part of her wardrobe. I realize most women are like this, and I assume they realize they can't wear it all at once. As for me, I am not a person who is trendy when it comes to this department. I like my clothes to last a while, and the seasons don't matter. I wear pants 365 and I only put on shorts when I'm working out or going to the beach. There are reasons for this that I'm not going into now. As for the top half I tend to wear shirts that are all one color or limited colors, nothing that can be described as 'busy' in terms of design. I wear a lot of black, just not enough where you would think I'm Amish. I don't like to stand out like a peacock. I prefer to stay low on peoples radar. In public I can be very elusive, getting in and out of an area and on with things. The only kinds of shopping I like are food and jewelry, although I am making more of the latter myself. The jewelry shopping is strictly for resell, as I now have a rule that I can't wear anything I don't make myself. I never pay retail and do a lot of browsing on eBay, clothes included. I don't buy jeans on eBay, just shirts and shoes many used or just slightly. Yard sales and thrift shops are a common place to see me, albeit for too long. I have shirts that I have had for two years. I'm not at the point where anything has holes in it but I use items until they are worn out and this goes for almost everything I own. I buy things that last and don't mind paying more for quality. And if you can get quality for a bargain then all the better.
I don't really no where to go with the rest of this post and I may have to add more, so let me sum up: Change is going to happen whether you are prepared for it or not, so be flexible and understand this important fact. It's funny but I think my increased flexibility has come in part from Bikram Yoga, but that could only be a biased opinion. My next post sort of has to do with change again, but this time its more about letting go (in all its different forms) and the troubles people have with that. It is aptly titled "How to get over things" and the contents may surprise you.
Questions or Comments? Let me know.
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